(Dropped) Between Light and Darkness: Light's Reclamation
by KindofScaryWalrus
Summary: This story has been dropped. I will instead be focusing on a new version of the story that follows the events of Remind. All of the plot points I had planned for this story will be used in that one instead, though will be performed differently with a new beginning and such.
1. Chapter 1: Beach

Hey everyone. I have no idea what I'm doing

Great start, right?

Yeah, I don't read much, I write even less. But even so, I ended up sitting down and writing all of this. Maybe I'll even continue it! Wouldn't that be crazy?!

Feel free to scream at me, criticism is always appreciated.

Now, let's see if I have any idea how to write a thing.

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything of Disney, Square Enix, Kingdom Hearts.

* * *

**Between Light and Darkness:**

Light's Reclamation

_Chapter One: Beach_

Riku watched on, as the visage of his best friend, Sora, seemingly just began to fade into the setting sun. Seeing his other best friend, Kairi's head lower, he decided it was time for him to step in and try and console her aching heart. Riku walked towards the small cabin attached to the wall of the mountain, that would lead him up towards the walkway to the small island. As the sand under his every step crunched and shifted with his weight, a thought of frustration crossed Riku's mind. He was named a keyblade master, by Master Yen Sid… and yet, when it came time to save Aqua, alongside Mickey, he failed; and in the face of death, all he could do was call for the help of Sora… that smiling idiot that had rescued him so many times in the past. And though Riku had managed to rescue Sora during the Mark of Mastery exam, he was so quickly put back into a position where he needed Sora's help again. Though most of his heart was filled with worry of where his friend had gone, and what had happened to him; a small part of his heart was desperate for this chance, to be without Sora for some time… so he could prove to himself that he didn't need Sora to keep rescuing him. That he could take care of himself… with these thoughts in his mind, he began to walk across that poorly-constructed walkway that they had just made together when they were kids. And with each creak of the old wood, he made his way towards Kairi.

…

Aqua, watching the same scene, watched on as one of her saviors just faded from existence. Looking down, a somber mood came over herself, wondering what use she even had in the final battle. In the fight against her best friend's possessed body, she could only back up Sora. Her, an extensively trained keyblade master, was being carried by a newbie who had lost his strength completely twice in the past year alone… She knew that her time in the realm of darkness had weakened her. Her technique muddied, combatted only by the random flails and bouts of magic of the pure-blooded heartless that would surround her. But even then… that girl that she had protected years before, that gifted her that flower, that memory that kept her going every day that she fought to live in that cesspool of darkness; She was crying, and Aqua knew it was because she had grown weaker. Lowering her head towards the sand, her teeth clenched together, her fists tightened in frustration, she tried to keep herself quiet, feeling as though she wasn't allowed to feel how she did now, when she had been rescued, been made a major priority on the checklist before the final battle against Xehanort, and then she blew it… So much so, that Sora had even taken her and Riku's place in the fight against Xehanort. The villain that costs her and her friends their destinies, that had taken their master away… and she wasn't able to fight against him.

As her eyes began to redden, and her fists tightened even further as she suffered on her own, she felt a pair of hands move onto her shoulders, their warmth comforting her just a little as she could feel the familiar sensation of her friends. Looking up to her right, she saw her friend Terra, the one that she had failed in saving herself, looking down at Aqua with eyes of concern. Looking to her left, she saw the familiar face of Ventus with similar eyes to Terra's; who she had just managed to keep her promise to wake her up, but almost killed them both as a result, wanting to show off to Sora against Vanitas. For some reason, their two faces served more so to frustrate her than they did to comfort her.

"I'm sorry," Aqua said quietly, brushing their two hands off her, as she began to quickly walk away from the two, leaving the two standing there in confusion.

"Aqua-," Terra called, reaching out and beginning to walk towards her, wanted to see what was wrong, but he was stopped by the small, gloved hand. Looking behind him, he saw Mickey looking up at him, with a somber face of his own, shaking his head towards Terra. He looked down at the King's face, with a face contorted in confusion and slight irritation, but letting out a heavy sigh, he looked down at the mouse king, and over towards Ventus, before looking down with a down-trodden expression.

Ventus was in a similar state of mind, and as he watched Aqua walk away from them, going towards the platform on the other side of the beach that overlooked the ocean, he wanted to go after her, but kept himself standing. He had been asleep for years… as far as he knew, he had been fighting against Vanitas in his own heart, then fallen asleep and had a series of long, odd but entertaining dreams, and as soon as he awoke, his first course of action was rushing towards Vanitas, and saving Aqua, before learning he had been asleep for twelve years. Though he had heard some snippets from his friends and the others of what had happened in that time, he never really knew in depth what everyone was going through. He didn't feel comfortable running after Aqua, when he didn't know what was really going on himself, or what was on his friend's mind. Still worried for his friend, he kept an eye on her as she walked off to be by herself.

Roxas, finally having been reunited with his friends, Axel, Xion, and Namine, was in such a state of harmony up until this moment, the friends that he had faced hardships with, fought against, fought with, had his memory erased of and then remembered again, were finally back, and they were all together again. The addition of Saix felt weird to him, he was a very strict supervisor during his time in the organization but seeing that he's calmed down since that time has made Roxas more comfortable around him. He still forgets to call him Isa now, though. And though it visibly does frustrate Saix a little when he does forget, he tries to be patient. Now, while he had just been racing with Terra and Riku, he watched as Sora, his brother of sorts, disappeared from existence while Riku made his way towards Kairi, as well as witnessing the small scene between Aqua, Terra, Ventus, and Mickey. Seeing his new friend Terra looking somber, and Ventus, his physical twin, looking towards the overlook, he made his way over between the two, catching the attention of Ventus.

"Everything alright?" Roxas asked Ven, their matching eyes meeting each other's. Ventus looked towards the ground for a moment, letting out a little sigh.

"Yeah… Aqua's just being kinda weird" Ven said, a bit of apprehension in his voice, still not entirely used to talking to a mirror image of himself, "I've… been asleep for a while. I just don't really know what's been going on with her, or you, Terra, for that matter" he picked his eyes up towards Terra, seeing him looking down, with a saddened expression.

Terra let out a breath, and kept looking downwards, "We'll go in-depth with you later tonight, Ven. Now isn't really the time, though" Terra looked back up, towards the Paopu tree that Riku was approaching "Besides, we're all here… those three can't say the same"

"Right…" Ven said, looking back towards the Paopu tree, for a moment; switching his gaze between the two, wanting to make sure Aqua would be alright.

"Don't worry, they'll be alright. We're going to find Sora and put an end to this story" Roxas said, putting his hand on Ven's shoulder with a small smile. "Besides, you've been dreaming of Sora's adventures this entire time, haven't you? You should know he'll be fine more than any of us"

A small snort came from Ven's nose, as some of the memories of what Sora had been doing flooded into his mind. Seeing his friend laughing, Terra's face lit up a little as well. "Heh, I guess you're right, but still" Ven said, looking off towards Aqua.

"Don't worry about Aqua, Ven. She's stronger than the two of us; she'll be alright." Terra said, trying to cheer up Ven. Though, despite saying this, he didn't really know himself what was going on with her. Still, he knew that she'd manage through it, just like she always has. Though, he was a brought down a bit by his little use in this situation.

"If you two want, I can go talk to her?" Roxas suggested "I might not be as close to her as you two, but maybe that's what she needs right now. Somebody who doesn't know her through and through?"

"That sounds like a good idea, Roxas" Mickey chimed in, quietly worrying for his friend as well, turning back around towards the trio, "I… saw a little of what Aqua was going through in the Realm of Darkness. But I lost track of her, and I failed in saving her… I want to talk to her too, but I'm just not sure if I'd be the best one to do it…" Mickey said, his ears folding in on themselves a little, as he looked down with a clearly exasperated look.

Roxas nodded to Mickey, giving a reassuring look to both Ven and Terra, "I'll see if I can find out what's going on… well, I'm off," Roxas said, before he began to walk off towards the ladder that would bring him up to where Aqua was currently.

Nodding back to Roxas, Mickey turned to Terra and Ven, "Well, how about we explore a bit? For kids, those three really did a number on this island…" Mickey noted, looking around at the various wooden structures that adorned the island.

"Well, no use in standing around, I guess. Besides, being in Sora's heart for so long, this place had an odd sense of familiarity to it… I wanna look around a little more" Ventus said, as he and Mickey started towards the large, wooden wall, a doorway towards the bottom of it that lead to the eastern side of the island. "Coming, Terra?"

Terra looked up from the ground, getting out of his small slump as he smiled towards the two, "Yeah" He started walking towards the two as they made their way to the doorway.

…

As the water washed over her feet, a small Thalassa seashell in her hand, Xion looked over to Roxas, watching him go over towards the platform with a slightly dejected look on her face. She looked over, a slightly wanting look in her eyes, as her short black hair blew in the breeze.

"Something on your mind?" A gentle, quiet voice came from besides her. Looking to her side, Xion saw Namine looking at her, a knowing smile on her porcelain-esque face. "You're looking awfully hard at Roxas."

"W-what?! No no no!" A blush was forming on Xion's face, as she waved her hands in heavy refusal, looking away for a moment from the sly face Namine was wearing. "It was just a coincidence!"

"Right~" Namine's head turned slightly, as she let out a small giggle, "Don't worry, Xion. Roxas is just going to check on Aqua. Nothing more, nothing less"

"I-I wasn't worried about that!" Xion puffed her cheeks, crossing her arms as she turned her gaze back towards the water. "I just hope nothing comes from it…" Xion said under her breath, to herself.

Namine, being near Xion, heard Xion well and smiled a little. Still, she turned her face towards the small paopu tree island that Kairi, her sister of sorts, was sitting on somberly. A feeling of concern was consuming Namine's mind, but she knew she wasn't the one to talk to her right now. Right now, that was Riku's job. Letting out a small sigh, she looked towards Riku, a smile on her face, along with a faint blush. Raising up her hands to her face, she suddenly slapped herself on either side of her face.

"N-Namine…?" Xion asked, a little surprised by the sudden action of her friend.

"Oh, just feeling motivated" Namine said, a wide smile on her face as she turned to Xion, her cheeks red and a tear falling from her eye from the stinging pain, before she turned her eyes back towards Riku on the island.

"I-I see…" Xion saw where Namine's glance went, and turning herself back towards Roxas… she smiled slightly, bringing her hands up to her own cheeks, slapping them herself, and letting out a small whimper from the self-inflicted sharp pain "Nng…"

"Xion?" Namine turned towards her friend, seeing her cheeks reddened as well, and small tears of pain coming from her eyes… rather than concern, Namine gave her a smile, which Xion gladly returned. After sharing their knowing glances, the two turned their eyes back towards what's been occupying their minds.

Xion turned his eyes to Roxas, who at this point was at the top of the ladder, climbing his way onto the walkway, as he made his way to the blue haired keyblade master. As she continued to watch Roxas' every step, she had to shake her head away, realizing that staring for such a long time would probably be a little creepy.

"Hey, Namine, want to go make some sand sculptures with the others?" Xion asked, turning to Namine, seeing that her gaze was also focused on a certain someone.

"H-huh?" Namine turned to her friend, realizing that she was staring so long, a blush forming on her face. "O-oh, yeah. That sounds like fun, let's do it" Namine smiled, regaining her composure a bit, realizing she was probably staring too long as well.

The two then made their way over towards Hayner, Pence, Olette, Donald, and Goofy. The Twilight Town trio was busy going back to working on their lucky sand emblem, as the latter two were busy rebuilding the sculpture of Donald that was ruined by Ventus.

…

Aqua was currently leaning onto the poorly constructed, wooden guardrail. The entire platform looked like a mishmash of nailed wood, that was just glued together in some spots. Due to some miracle, it stood together, but it was still clear that Aqua was conscious of this and wasn't putting on all her weight on it in case it was to collapse. A lot was on her mind right now, and she just wanted some time to try and unwind… but she heard the creaking of steps on the old, water damaged wood behind her. Looking to behind her, to her right suddenly, she saw the familiar face of her friend Ventus.

Letting out a sigh, "Ven, I just want to be alone right… oh" looking down at Ven's clothing, the only thing that distinguishes him from Roxas, she realized that this was in fact not Ven… rather, this was Roxas. "S-sorry, Roxas. I'm still getting used to that."

"Hah, don't worry about it, I'm still getting used to it too" with a comforting smile on his face, "Mind if I join you?"

"Uh, yeah go ahead" Aqua said, a little confused as to why Roxas came to see her.

"Thanks," Roxas moved besides Aqua, leaning himself a bit more heavily onto the railing. Though it looked flimsy, for some reason he knew in his heart that it would hold.

Aqua, a little surprised, looked at Roxas for a moment, trying to figure him out, but after a moment, she returned to her position, looking to the water with him at her side. The two were silent for a moment, just listening to the gentle crashing of the waves against wall of mashed together wood that built up to the platform. Despite wanting to have been alone, Aqua found a little comfort in the company, and the two just kept silent for a few moments, listening, and watching the waves.

**.**

**.**

**.**

'…Shit' Roxas thought to himself, trying to keep his face calm as he focused on the water, though a little bit of sweat was starting to form on his forehead, 'why did I say I'd talk to her, I know nothing about her… 'Hey, Master Aqua, what's got ya down?' there's no way I can say that, that's way too forward… 'Yooo, Master Aqua'' Roxas internally slapped himself 'Don't start off with "yo," moron' As Roxas kept trying to figure out an icebreaker in his mind, Aqua was dealing with a similar problem.

'…What am I supposed to say. Did… did Roxas come to comfort me or something? Why him? I feel like literally anybody else would have been a better choice… ah, I'm being rude, though. Roxas was concerned and wanted to come check on me, that was very nice of him. Damnit, Aqua, did the Realm of Darkness dull your social ability as well…' Aqua's face darkened a bit, her expression somber as she started to look down towards her feet.

Roxas looked over at Aqua, thinking he finally knew how to start this conversation. His lips parting slightly, but he stopped himself. Seeing Aqua even more downtrodden than before, he quickly turned hit head back towards the water, a bit more sweat coming to his forehead. 'Shit, okay you took too long, I need something else…'

As the two tried to figure out how to communicate with each other, on the other end of the island, Riku had finally made his way to Kairi.

…

Riku was currently leaned against the base of the paopu tree, the spot that he had claimed as his own through repeated use over the years. Besides him was Kairi, her head slumped over as she looked towards the ground, not saying a word. Riku could see the dried tears that lined her cheeks.

"Kairi, we'll fi- "

"I know" Kairi cut off Riku, speaking up for the first time since he had come over. "I know. We'll find him. He isn't gone, I know he isn't…" Kairi looked up, moving her glance over towards Riku.

His eyes widened, her eyes didn't look sad, or lost, they looked angry, frustrated. "Kairi?"

"I wanted to be a part of this. I told you two back in the Organization's home-world; wherever you two went, I was coming too. And I blew it. The second I started a fight, Xemnas nabbed me, and I died. I don't even understand how Sora brought me back, but he did..." Tears began to flow again from her frustrated, irritated eyes. "He saved me again. I trained as hard as I could with Axel… but it wasn't enough. It wasn't even close to enough. I just relied on him in the end. Again. Now he's gone, and nobody seems to care!"

Riku looked at her, jaw slightly open, wanting to say something for a moment, but stopped himself, letting out a small, airy laugh as she looked towards Kairi.

"Riku!?"

"Haha, sorry, Kai. Just, I guess it's been a while since we've really, talked." Riku explained… "I mean, you were sort of unconscious the entire time of our first adventure, then we didn't even get together since the end of our second, then you were off training for this one… it's just been a while, you know? I forgot how fired up you can get" Riku smirked, relaxing further into the tree.

"I… I mean, yeah that's true, but what's with you all?! You guys were over there racing, Axel and Isa were playing Frisbee with Roxas-"

"You mean Ven."

"Y-yeah, Ven, then Xion and Namine were just playing in the water… why don't doesn't anybody seem to care?!"

"Kai, we all do care" Riku started, but was swiftly cut off.

"Then why are you all just messing arou- "

"Kairi" Riku stopped her, "We all care. But we just saved literally all of existence, we're all tired, and we all have scars. We want to rest" Riku calmly explained to Kairi. "Terra was possessed for years, Aqua was trapped in the Realm of Darkness, and Ven was asleep through it all. Roxas and Xion had an existential crisis, and their bodies aren't even really bodies yet. And you saw what happened to Axel" Kairi's face dampened, remembering the scene of his flesh sizzling and charring in spots as Xemnas' lasers struck all over his body. If Sora hadn't had his stock of Hi-potions on him at the time, it's likely Axel would have died not long after that barrage. "Do you see why we just want to take it easy for a little while? You should too. You died, you probably got it worse than the rest of us all"

Kairi clenched her teeth, frustrated that Riku was right, "You're… you're right. But even so, we don't know where Sora is. The fact that he appeared now… I don't understand it."

"He'll be alright, Kai" There was a confident tone in Riku's voice.

"But how do you know that? He can be out there on his own, struggling to survive, he could be de-"

"You two shared a paopu fruit, didn't you?" Riku looked over, a knowing smirk on his face as he watched a deep, red blush form on Kairi's face.

"W-wait what?! H-how did you know about that?!" Kairi's back shot up, her body twisting to look at Riku in surprise.

"Kai, when I came back you two were covered in a citrus-y smell. Do you honestly expect me to believe you two binged on oranges while I was gone for about ten minutes?"

"W-well… E-even if we did, what does that matter?" Kairi questioned, her face flushed and embarrassed, but knowing she wouldn't be able to get past Riku's perception.

"Your fates are entwined. And well, you're still alive and kicking, so that must mean he is too"

"R-Riku, I don't think it works like that… It's not like if he died, I'd die too" a confused tone came to Kairi's voice.

"No, but you're not going to sit around, sulking, are you?"

"What?! No!" Kairi was outraged that Riku would even suggest that, and gave him a slightly offended look.

"Then he won't be either. You're going to get up and find him, just like he's going to come back and find you. So, there's nothing to worry about. The two of you will find each other." Riku gave a reassuring smile over towards Kairi.

Kairi pouted at her silver-haired friend, opening and closing her mouth a few times, wanting to say something in retort, but she herself didn't know the exact properties of the paopu fruit. She could argue that it's all legend, that none of that mattered because it was a symbolic gesture… however, what Riku said comforted her. And she didn't want to give that up. Sighing softly, she looked at Riku. "Riku… you know, if you weren't so quiet, I'm sure that girls would be all over you." She giggled and turned her eyes back to the water.

"Wha-?!... Heh." Riku started, surprised at Kairi's comment, but quickly contained himself with a small cough, "I'm not all that great, you know. Just used to pulling you and Sora out from your little rough patches"

"Hehe, where would we be without you, Riku?" Kairi asked, smiling over towards her friend.

"Well… maybe in the same spot I'd be without either of you." His voice had a meaningful tone behind it, as he looked down a little, remembering the hardships that he put the two through in their first adventure, still not quite over that guilt.

"Well, don't worry. If you ever get into trouble, I'll be sure to pull you out" Kairi smiled, flexing her arm.

"Mm, and same to you. Though, I feel like you two have already rescued me enough as well… I think it's my turn to step up to the plate more. I've been relying on Sora just as much as you" Riku said, his voice stained with a bit of laughter, "I think I've probably been rescued more times by Sora than you have by now."

"Ugh, let's please not make this a competition…" Kairi said with a slight groan.

"I'd gladly avoid that sort of contest. Besides, I'm probably going to be too busy saving you to even think about it" Riku smirked.

"H-hey!" Kairi turned to Riku with an angry look, before her face begins to soften, as she formed a competitive glance in her eyes. "We'll see if you even have a chance. I'm going to be too busy saving your butt!" Kairi smirked back.

"Heh, glad to know my butt's going to be in good hands." Riku said, looking back towards the water.

"Very good hands" Kairi puffed out her chest for a moment, before resting back against the Paopu tree, "…When are we heading out, anyway?"

"Well, Chip and Dale knew we weren't going to be able to keep fitting everybody into the Highwind, so they wanted to try to make new design, something more comfortable for larger groups."

"I see… I think I've only been in the Highwind once…" Kairi said, "Back when you brought me to Master Yen Sid's tower. It wasn't the… comfiest of things"

"Well, they're sort of minimalistic… a cockpit, a bed or two, a kitchen, an engine and some weapons. Nothing very nice or comfortable, though. It doesn't have much of a living space. Mickey mentioned that he requested that Chip and Dale try to make them more comfortable, though, given that we don't really know how much we'll be travelling this time around. Gummi technology is still new, and though it's heavily customizable, it's never really been advanced upon. So, a lot of the time it's just a lot of blocks surrounding a small living space, and a cockpit. Apparently, Chip and Dale have been doing research in their free time in how to make the ships more effective and livable already, and said they were onto a breakthrough, but we'll just have to see if they managed to make anything" Riku explained.

"I hope that they did. I can't spend more than a few hours in one of those things…" Kairi sighed, reaching back and rubbing her back, the painful memory of her back against that hard gummi chair.

"I know what you mean, I used corridors of darkness before to get past that, but I can't really use those anymore…" Riku lifted his hand, half trying to summon one but not trying to rely on darkness again. Kairi smiled watching his attempt, glad that nothing appeared for him, though she wasn't expecting anything to.

As the two began to talk on a little bit more about random topics, catching up a little, both of their ears perked up as they began to hear hastening footsteps coming from behind them. The footsteps sounded vaguely familiar to Kairi, but to Riku, he couldn't quite place them. The two looked back, and saw the fire-y red, spiked back hair of Axel coming their way, stomping quickly as he looked directly at Kairi.

"Kairi!" He yelled out, coming forward, a passion in his eyes as he came forward, "You can't let Sora disappearing like that get you down! You gotta get up and train even harder, we're gonna face a lotta hardships trying to find him, but we won't lose hope! We're gonna find him, so you better get fired up! Got it memorized?!" Axel started yelling a passionate speech out of nowhere.

**.**

**.**

**.**

After a moment of silence, Riku giving Axel the most put-off look that he feels he's ever made, and Kairi looked on with a sort of awkward smile.

"U-uh, Thanks, Axel. But umm… Riku already gave me a pep talk and everything. I'm all good now" Kairi said, "O-oh, but thank you! I appreciate your concern!"

"W-what?" Axel's shoulders drooped down, as he formed a flabbergasted expression "But you two were over here for so long… I thought you were crying or something and Riku was going to be all moody and stuff, like always"

"Moody…?" Riku turned his head towards Axel, giving a slightly offended, confused look.

"Well, Riku is always moody, so I get that assumption"

"You too!?"

"But really, Axel? Crying? Did I ever seem that emotional when we were training together?!" Kairi asked, puffing her cheeks slightly as she looked back at Axel, turning her body around on the Paopu tree.

Riku leaned over to Kairi, whispering "But you were cry-, " but he was quickly hushed.

"U-uh, well… I mean…" Axel stumbled a bit, unsure of how to respond, "Gotta go!" He called, before immediately turning around and running back onto the bridge.

"Axel!" Kairi called, jumping off the tree, and began running after him, a scolding in store for him.

Riku watched on the scene, laughing at the familiarity of the scene, only that Axel seemed to take the place of Sora here.

"I'm sorry!" Axel whined, as getting a bit too close to the right side of the bridge, a weak part of the wooden construct gave way under his foot, and he was sent falling into the shallow water on the shoreline. "AHH!" He screamed

_**Splash!**_

"Axel!" Kairi called out, rushing to the side of the bridge that Axel fell off.

Riku soon followed suit and looked down at Axel, eyes of concern. It wasn't the biggest fall, but you can never be too careful. "You okay, man?"

"Ugh…" Axel groaned out, sitting up in the water, his clothes and body mostly soaked "Yeah yeah, I'm fine!" he grumbled, as he waved his arms around, trying to swing some of the water off him.

"You've always been oddly brash" A slightly monotone voice said, a small chuckle in his voice as he came forward, staying on the dry sand outside of the water's reach as he looked down at Axel.

Axel looked up at the voice, giving a cocky look to him, "Yeah well, I just like to leave an impression! Now, are you going to help me up, Isa!?"

"No thanks," Isa said, "I'd prefer to keep myself dry."

"Gah, seriously? Leave it to a supervisor to refuse to get a little wet" Axel grumbled, throwing his head back in agitation.

"Axel!" Kairi called, having made her way down from the bridge in a hurry, Riku following a few steps behind in less of a hurry, and was now approaching Axel, unhesitant in getting her feet wet, as she reached her hand down to help up Axel. "Here, get up."

"Why thank you Kairi!" Axel smiled at his friend, happily taking her hand as she pulled him up, before he brushed off some of the wet sand from his rear. "See, Isa? That's how you do it! Even a teenage girl like Kairi isn't afraid of a little water!" He smirked cockily at Isa, before feeling the sudden whack of Kairi's hand against the back of his hand.

"'Even a teenage girl'?" Kairi pouted, her hands on her hips as she looked at Axel in reprimand "You're losing so many brownie points today, Axel…"

"Nng…" Axel groaned, rubbing the back of his head, "I swear, nobodies on my side today!" Axel sulked, and made his way out of the water, walking a few steps away from everybody. "It's alright, I'll win you all over by being flashy!" he smirked, stretching out his hands as he was suddenly engulfed in flames, the blowback of the flames blowing Isa, Riku, and Kairi's hair back a bit as they watched on in awe.

After a moment the flames subsided, and Axel stood, hands on his hips in pride as he smirked at the small group… completely nude, his clothes burnt off. "See? All dry!" He boasted, not quite realizing his current predicament.

"Kairi, close your eyes!" Riku rushed forward, and quickly covered his friend's eyes, turning himself away as well.

"R-Riku!?"

Isa was too busy with his palm against his face to intervene, as Axel gave an odd look to Riku. "Heh? What, was she afraid of fire or something?" Axel asked, as he felt a sudden gust of wind across his body, which felt much colder than normal, "Brr, jeez is it getting late or something? It's getting a little chilly." Axel wiped his nose, his body shivering a little bit.

"You idiot" Isa, finally said, quickly walking forward and taking off his camo sleeved jacket and wrapping it around the front of Axel's body; revealing a dark blue tank top that Isa was wearing.

"Heh? Why are you covering-, " Axel then looked down in confusion, realizing that all of his clothes had disappear as he accidentally knocked away Isa's coat "Woah! Where'd all my clothes go?!"

"Riku! Get your hand off me!" Kairi complained, swiftly pulling Riku's hand off his eyes, giving him an angry look before turning forward towards Axel. Immediately her cheeks began to redden, her eyes widened in horror as she scrambled to grab back onto Riku's hand, "Put you hand back over my eyes!"

Riku gladly complied, and Axel covered his privates with his hand. "W-what happened?!" Axel exclaimed.

"You burnt your damn clothes off!" Riku yelled.

"What?!" Axel yelled.

"Put on some clothes, Axel!" Kairi yelled.

"Stop yelling!" Isa yelled, "You're attracting eyes!"

Riku's eyes widened, as looking behind him, he noticed the confused, concerned looks of Namine, Xion, the Twilight Town Trio, Goofy, and the agitated look of Donald. "N-nothing to see over here! Don't worry!" Riku called over to them, trying to dissuade them from coming over. However, turning his eyes back, he saw that the door at the base of the wooden wall that lead to the eastern side of the island was open, and from it came Terra, Ventus, and Mickey, met with the sight of Axel's ass staring right at them.

"Uh, Lea?" Ventus started, about to ask, "Ah!" He let out, his eyes suddenly being covered by the strong hand of Terra.

"Ven, don't look!" Terra commanded, turning his head back up at Axel, "Lea, why are you naked?!"

"Gahh! I hate Mondays!" Axel yelled, moving his hands up to his head, and roughly rubbing at his scalp in stress, before realizing he had stopped covering his crotch, and swiftly covered them back up, a heavy blush on his face.

"Just summon your organization garbs!" Isa commanded, his hand intensely massaging his temples.

"Summon my wh- Oh! Right!" Axel laughed, as in another burst of flames infused with a bit of darkness, the familiar black, leathery coat appeared over Axel's body, along with the black pair of pants and shoes that accompanied them. And, though nobody else could see it, black underwear underneath. "Whew! Much warmer!"

Riku and Terra let out a sigh of relief in tandem, uncovering their protectee's eyes.

"That's weird though, The Organization's coat never burnt off like that…" Axel noted.

"That's because it's magically infused, based on their respective member's magic. It won't be effected by your own magic." Isa explained, picking his own coat up, brushing the sand off it before wrapping it back around himself.

"What?! So, you're telling me I'm going to have to infuse all the clothes I wear?!" Axel asked, mouth agape at Isa, before turning to Kairi, "Hey, Kai? How do I infuse clothes?"

"Why are you asking me!?" Kairi puffed her cheeks at him.

"Well jeez, Lea…Didn't Master Yen Sid give you some new clothes? Those should've been designed to protect you from your own magic" Mickey chimed in.

"Oh yeah, never tried those on. Didn't like the look" Axel shrugged.

"Lea, I swear, you-, " Isa started, getting a little frustrated with his friend, before Riku cut him off.

"No, Isa. Don't get mad. That only feeds it" Riku suddenly said, giving Isa a knowledgeable, though somewhat tired look.

Isa was quiet for a moment, his mouth slightly agape as he looked at Riku, feeling an odd sense of comradery for a moment. Closing his lips, he gave Riku a small nod, looking back at Lea, before he turned, walking towards his other friends that were currently building sand sculptures.

"Heh? Isa? Where you going, Isa!?" Axel called out, going towards his friend, a little put off by the lack of any reaction.

Kairi, who was watching on, turned to Riku, a knowing smirk on her face, "You were talking about Sora, weren't you?"

Riku returned a small smile, before turning around himself, and walking off towards the others, "Maybe, maybe not." He said with a small tone of amusement in his voice.

Kairi gave Riku a quizzical look, "Huh? Who else could you be talking about? Riku? where are you going, Riku!?" Kairi began to walk off with Riku towards the others.

Terra, who was watching this entire scene with his two friends, put his face into his palm, "These are the people who saved us?"

"Awe, they're a little silly, but they're mostly really strong!" Mickey said, trying to reassure Terra, but something in his heart told him that there was no recovering from watching all of that.

"Still, how did a kid that grew up in this manage to defeat Master Xehanort…?" Terra tried to figure it out, his hand on his chin as he looked towards the ground.

"Ah, what does it matter? We're all here now, so I'm happy for that" Ventus smiled up at his friend, "Now, let's go see if Roxas managed to talk to Aqua." Ven started walking towards the group on the beach.

Terra, looking towards the group, and seeing that neither Roxas or Aqua were back yet, thought that maybe they were just hidden behind an admirably sized newly made sculpture of Donald that he had been painstakingly making. "Right. Let's join everyone else, Your Majesty." Terra said, looking down at Mickey.

"Awe, you can just call me Mickey, Terra." Mickey said up to Terra with his permanently smiling face, before he started to walk towards the others, "But you're right, let's go."

Terra, looking down at the small, mouse king, and began to walk as well, "Right, Mickey."

…

**.**

**.**

**.**

Roxas stood quietly, his face pale as he continued looking towards the water, afraid to look towards the keyblade master at his side, in fear that she'd be looking back, expecting him to have said something by now. Roxas, however, thought the he would have thought of something at this point, but maybe Aqua just really needed some time alone; but now, he feels like leaving would be too awkward. So, now he's standing besides her, not saying anything as his hands, cold and a little shake-y held onto the old, wooden railing of the platform, waiting for something to happen to get him out of this situation.

'Please, somebody, please, get me out of here. Axel, Xion, somebody!" Roxas internally screamed.

Aqua wasn't in much of a better situation, her self-concept becoming worse and worse by the minutes as she began to think about just how much she had changed in the Realm of Darkness. She was weaker, her social skills had severely dulled, and to top it all off, she didn't even have her keyblade anymore.

'Aqua… what happened to you…' Aqua asked herself, almost forgetting entirely about Roxas in her bout of self-doubt, 'You don't deserve to be called a Master…' Aqua let out a small, but audible sigh, which sent a shiver up Roxas' spine.

The two stayed like this for some time in silence; however, eventually the sound of small footsteps, with the wood underneath their feet creaking slightly, began to come from behind the two.

"Master Aqua, Roxas, I hope I'm not interrupting, but we're all going to be getting together for a bonfire, if you two would like to join us" The gentle voice of Olette came from behind them. When the two turned towards her, however, she had to keep herself from shrieking as her eyes shot open in surprise.

Aqua and Roxas looked towards her, their faces pale and sunken, the two having been stressing themselves in their own personal ways, which had taken it's toll on their bodies.

"T-thanks, Olette…" Roxas muttered out, his voice almost like a ghost's.

'Thank you so much, Olette…' Roxas thought.

"…We'll be down soon" Aqua chimed in, her voice in a similar, though more depressed tone.

"O-okay, I'll let everyone know!" Olette said, slowly backing up from the two, before quickly turning and fast-walking towards the ladder to return to everyone else.

Though it took a moment for the two to leave, both unsure if they should be the first one to leave, eventually they made their way down the ladder, returning to their friends who were currently digging out a small pit, collecting logs to both burn and to serve as seating.

With the eager help of Axel, the logs were soon burning, and the sixteen, including Jiminy who would serve as chronicler, sat around the fire, a collection of various foods, such as marshmallows, hot dogs, chocolate and graham crackers, along with a few other food choices were laid around their seats, as they all collectively stared into the fire for a moment, some with more enthusiasm than others.

"So," Jiminy started, "Who would like to start?"

* * *

Woah! I see you made it to the bottom of the page. Glad you didn't click off it :)

Side note; I'm probably not going to be adding in anything related to Union X. In this story, Chirithy isn't a thing. Nothing against Union X, I play it, I'd just rather have something more solid that isn't still being updated to work with.

Also, if you haven't realized yet, this is a SoraXKairi, RikuXNamine(Maybe harem later if I'm feelin spicy) RoxasXXion fic. Then I have no idea about other pairings I'll do down the line.

Woop woop, thanks for reading.

Later!


	2. Chapter 2: Reminisce

Hokay, I'm here.

Sorry that took a while. I chose literally the worst time possible to start writing this fic with school and stuff. But now that that's done for the semester, I can write more than I was during college stuffs.

On that note, screw this chapter. This was meant to be a sort of "Recap of the games" chapter, took me four attempts besides this one before I was like screw it if you're reading this then you know what's going on to some extent, I'll do a lil bit here and there to recap but I want to do my story lol.

That said, this wasn't really a chapter I was too proud of, due to just kinda due to what I was trying to do with originally. I think it came out better than I was expecting, but I just don't think this chapter was really a good idea on my part, lol.

Okay, but ima shut up now. I'll talk more at the bottom (If you read and see some discrepancies or anything like that, scroll down there cause ima talk a little bit more about some stuff)

Now watch me ruin this man's (mine) career (story).

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything of Disney, Square Enix, Kingdom Hearts.

* * *

**Between Light and Darkness:**

Light's Reclamation

_Chapter Two: Reminisce_

"So, who would like to start?" The small, elegant voice asked, as the well-dressed cricket sat, phone in hand, on Goofy's shoulder, who with Donald was quietly conversing with Mickey who was busily texting away on his phone. Before the creation of the gummi-phone, there weren't many ways for Mickey's advisors to get into contact with him, however, having been away from his kingdom for over an accumulated year now, there was no escaping his piled-up responsibilities anymore.

"Huh?" Kairi leaned in, looking forwards past the fire in front of her towards Jiminy, "But didn't you already give us all phones with our adventures recorded in them?"

The small cricket let out a small sigh, turning his head towards Kairi, "Well, for some of you, yes. We have the adventures recorded for you, Riku, his Majesty, Donald, Goofy, and Sora, as well as Aqua, Terra, and Ventus, since luckily these three were recording their adventure along the way" Jiminy said, a smile on his face as he turned towards the wayfinder trio.

A light smile came to Aqua's face, her eyes turning towards her two friends. She had honestly no idea how the phone worked and hadn't looked through the adventures that were entered into the database; she hadn't known that the other two had recorded their adventures. "Mm," Aqua nodded towards the cricket, "Our Master always told us to keep a daily journal to keep track of our progress, I'm glad they were helpful to you."

"Hehe, well it certainly saves me a lot of transcribing!" Jiminy turned his head back to Kairi, "But to answer your question Princess, I don't have information on a few of you," he said, specifically turning his head towards the Sea-salt trio, including Isa, "Namely you four. The only real knowledge we have is about you two, Roxas, Xion. And that's just from the little snippets Sora or Riku here have told us, with a little bit from you, Naminé. And then all we really know about you is you were our enemy for a while, Isa!"

Roxas looked up from a s'more he was currently biting into, sending a small pile of crumbs into the sand at his feet, his face having regained color since his 'Conversation,' with Master Aqua. His eyes were lit up with a bit of surprise, he hadn't really been listening up to this point before suddenly hearing his name, "H-huh? Oh, uh… W-well, mmph, I did shome shtuff wiff the Organization… Uhh..." Roxas tried to construct some type of a sentence, his mouth full and his mind hardly prepared.

As Roxas was trying to come up with something to say, he suddenly felt a rough slap against his back, pushing him forward a bit and startling him, "Come on, etiquette one-oh-one, don't chew with your mouth full, it's rude" Axel said, one of his eyes darting over towards Kairi, who gave him a subtle thumbs up. Axel had been trained in more than just combat in Merlin's pocket dimension…

As Roxas hacked and coughed away, beginning to choke from the unexpected smack, Xion scrambled to find something for Roxas to drink to help it all down, eventually giving him the juice that she had been silently sipping away at.

Chugging down the juice, Roxas parted his lips from the bottle and let out a breath of relief, panting for breath and breathing out words of gratitude towards Xion.

At this point realizing that his former fellow-members weren't going to give a suitable answer, Saïx let out a sigh and turned his head towards the cricket, "I'm sure these three participated in activities besides what was assigned to them, however for the missions we had given them, there should be a database that contains all of our daily reports in the castle of the Organization's home-world" he said, before turning over towards Xion, "There should also be data on how this one was made, though I suppose Even may be a better source of that information."

Xion's face recoiled for a moment at the familiar distance in Saïx's tone towards her. She just looked at him for a moment, before she slowly turned her eyes down towards the sand at her feet, breathing out a small sigh before feeling a gentle hand on her shoulder, looking back up to see Naminé giving her a reassuring look on her right, with Roxas on her left still panting a little, recovering from choking on a s'more.

Kairi looked over towards the black-haired image of herself from a year prior, before narrowing her eyes and turning her gaze towards the blue-haired former nobody, her hands on her hips as she sat, "Hey! You know, not all girls like talking about how they were 'made,'" Kairi said, before a small smirk began to adorn her face, "You some kind of perv-"

As Kairi was about to finish her sentence, Riku's hand quickly wrapped around her face, covering her mouth before she could say anything careless. Axel however, finishing the sentence in his mind, quickly burst out laughing besides Isa.

Saïx just looked blankly over at Kairi, ignoring the laughter of his red-haired… 'friend,' before letting out a sigh, "Very well. Besides; I believe a trip to Radiant Garden is due in our near future, Even can tell you more there." Saïx said, his gaze returned towards the Cricket.

"U-Umm, well alright then…" Jiminy scratched at the side of his head, as he eyed over the group, "Well, I mean… if you've all got a general idea of each other, I guess we don't have to waste any time going over it again. But does anyone have any questions for each other, something the entries didn't quite cover well enough for ya?"

Almost immediately, most of the eyes of the group turned towards either Ventus or Roxas, the two identical twins who were sitting on opposite sides of the fire.

"Uhh, could someone explain to me why our Roxas looks just like Ven over there…?" Hayner asked, his arms crossed as he looked towards Roxas.

"Yeah, like… Ven like a data-Roxas or something? Does that mean we can meet our data-selves too from the other Twilight Town!?" Pence asked, his eyes lighting up slowly as the idea came to him.

Olette quickly put her hands up onto the shoulders of the two boys besides her, breathing out a sigh, "Come on you two, the other Hayner was still called Hayner, weren't they? Why would the data-Roxas have some weird name like Ventus?" Olette casually stated, before a faint tint of pink came to her cheeks as she looked past Hayner on her right towards Ventus, "U-Umm… no offense…!"

"Huh?" Ven's head turned towards Olette, mouth deep into a s'more. Just like Roxas, he hadn't been that involved in the conversation, and wasn't especially paying attention. He hardly noticed when half the group's heads turned towards them, in fact. "Uhh… No worrphies?" Ven said around the sweet sandwich in his mouth, before feeling a smack against his back, pushing him forward a little bit as he began to cough and choke on a bit of s'more that was sent down his gullet.

"Ven, Don't talk with your mouth full," Terra said, his hand leaving Ven's back, and his eyes peeking over towards Aqua, hoping for her praise in following Master Eraqus' etiquette that she had reinforced in him throughout the years.

What he saw, however, was Aqua briefly looking at the scene, before turning her eyes back towards the fire, seemingly taking little note of the event.

"_Cough, cough…_ Hey!" Ven looked up at Terra, "What was that for!?"

"Huh?" Terra's eyes returned back down to Ven, "Oh, right. Don't talk with your mouth full. But anyway," Terra's looked over towards Roxas, ignoring the fuming Ven besides him, "I want to know why Roxas looks like Ven as well… do either of you even know?" he asked the two.

"I dunno," Roxas shrugged, before turning his eyes to his twin, "But honestly, I'm not too sure how I feel about him looking just like me," he sighed, before looking down and thinking to himself, 'Of course, once I finally stopped being called Sora, now I'm being called Ven…'

Ven's eyes calmed from his frustration with Terra, as he looked over towards Roxas with a troubled look, "Yeah, me neither… Oh, but why we look the same- "As Ven began to speak the majority of the group's eyes turned towards him, making him stiffen up a bit, "B-but, uh… When I was in Sora's heart, sort of experiencing his adventures through dreams, after he pierced his own chest with that weird keyblade, I started having dreams about some one else..." He said, before turning his eyes towards the Sea-salt trio, including Saïx and Naminé, "I saw you all in those dreams, and you three too," Ven said, turning his eyes towards the Twilight town trio, "so… I dunno much about nobodies but uhh…"

"But a nobody, in a way, is like a replica…" Riku interjected, his hand long having come off of Kairi's mouth, to her relief, "So, maybe when Sora released his heart, he also let out Ven's. His body took the form of the heart inside of him… and since Roxas didn't have a heart in the beginning, Roxas' body took the form of Ven's image."

"Eh? So Roxas always did have a heart!?" Axel looked back towards the blonde on his right, "Knew it!" his lips went wide into a smirk as he playfully nudged Roxas' shoulder.

"Hm, that would explain your, how Lea puts, "Zombie" demeanor in your early days of the organization" Saïx thought out loud. "Given that Ven's heart was sleeping when he was within you."

Roxas looked up at his former supervisor, his head tilted to the side in confusion, "Huh? Wasn't that the case for everyone?... I mean, Xion was like that too for a while, too." He said, keeping his eyes on Saïx.

"For a time, Xion was incomplete. The missions you went on with her early on in your career were meant more-so as tests to see if her replica body would even be able to hold," Isa explained, his eyes remaining on Roxas, "She did not speak because she did not have the capability to do so, as those sections of her body had not yet been implemented. Most nobodies, you excluded, have some semblance of emotion following their creation, due to the memories of their previous life. You however, were a "Zombie""

"So… the reason that Roxas looks like me is because my heart was inside of him when he was created…?" Ven asked, trying to put it all together.

"Mhm, that sounds right to me," Terra said, trying to seem like he knew what was going on. Nobodies were still a new concept to him as well.

As the two spoke, the original trio who had asked the question were just staring, flabbergasted. The extent of their knowledge regarding everyone else was that Sora had to do "Keyblade things," a lot and that these people were somehow related to that. Whatever Roxas, Ven, and Isa were talking about "Replicas," or "Organization," were far beyond them.

Xion, however, who was besides the two as they spoke, her cheeks flushed red as her hands tightened into fists, quickly shot her face up towards two, "Can you two please stop talking about me as if I'm not here!?" she huffed out.

Naminé looked down besides Xion, her cheeks a deeper shade than Xion's, "Y-yes, I'd like if we didn't talk about the um… assemblage of replicas at the moment." She requested quietly.

An unfortunate part of the replica program was that in its current state, the replicas had to be made specific for the gender of the heart that would reside within it. Sections of the body could expand, and contract given the heart within it, however, it could not replace. Being given the replica body of the male Riku replica, this was something that Naminé would be unfortunately very aware of until Even and Ienzo would be able to create a body to… properly accommodate her.

Axel, raising an eyebrow at Naminé's meek request and deciding to question her later, widened his lips into a smirk as he turns his head back towards Isa, "Oh boy, Isa. You sure are loving talking about Xion's body today; got something goin' on~?" Axel ribbed.

"What-!?" Came three voices in unison, that of the outraged Saïx, the surprised Xion, and surprisingly, the bewildered Roxas.

"See, see~? Total perv- "Once again, Kairi was silenced by the hand of Riku.

Xion stared at Saïx for a moment, mouth agape before slowly muttering out, "U-Uhh… S-Saïx, I appreciate it… I think? but- "

"No, stop." Saïx immediately put his hand up, stopping Xion in her tracks, and simply stood up. "Lea, come with me." He said, and without giving him the chance to get up, Saïx grabbed onto Lea's ear, and pulled him back with him, dragging him along the sand as he Saïx brought him to the massive wooden wall that lead to the other side of the island.

"Wha- OW! Hey, come on, Isa! It was just a joke, Ahh! Come on, let go!" Axel pleaded as he was dragged along, trying to pry off the fingers gripped tightly around his ear, "Kai! Come on, help me!" he shouted out trying to get some support.

Kairi simply put up her hands, shaking her head with a 'What am I going to do with you?' look.

"Hey! You were teasing him too! Heeeelp!" Axel called out, making Kairi and Riku laugh a little, as Roxas and Xion looked on with some concern.

"Is he going to be okay…?" Ven muttered toward Aqua, hoping maybe talking to her some more might get her out of her current state, where she had just been silently listening, and taking in the conversation.

Aqua's eyes glanced for a moment towards Ven, but her gaze remained on the fire as she slouched forward a bit, resting her head in her hand, "Hm? Oh, probably." She responded, a melancholic expression across her face.

Ven just looked at her for a moment, worried for his friend who had said so little to him, even after she finally woke him back up, as well as before the final battle with Xehanort. He began to open his mouth, wanting to say something to her, but felt a hand grab onto his shoulder. Turning to his right, he saw Terra, a slightly somber look on her face as he just gently shook his head at Ven, who looked down hands clenched in a silent frustration.

Terra looked over towards Aqua, his eyebrows furrowed in concern, as the thought ran across his mind that perhaps the Aqua he and Ven knew had truly died in the Realm of Darkness.

As the three silently sat next to each other, the loud protests of Axel loudly ran past the group around the fire, causing most of the group to chuckle a little, though with some concern present in their minds.

"Uhm, shouldn't we go stop Saïx…?" Xion asked.

Roxas just turned and looked at her, "If you want to, go ahead. I'm not going to interrupt a "Disciplinary Meeting" though," a shiver went down his spine at the memory, "Demyx's cries for mercy kept me up a lot of nights…"

Xion groaned just imaging the pain that out of control sitar player must've been put through, "Y-yeah, sorry, Axel…" She said, saying a silent prayer in her mind.

Naminé, who was watching the two react, began to wonder if maybe Marluxia and Larxene weren't actually that bad towards her…

"Gahhh!" Axel's voice yelled from across beach, "You're all the worst friends!" as his hand trying to grab onto a plank of wood sticking out from the amateurly constructed wall.

"Silence, traitor." Saïx calmly commanded, throwing Axel through the doorway, his claymore, the Lunatic, being summoned into his hand before he slammed the door shut behind him, sending the odd loose planks of wood tumbling from their positions in the wall.

"Uhh… those are the guys who kidnapped and held you prisoner, Kairi?" Olette leaned forward, a bewildered look on her face as she looked towards the red-head.

"Yeah, they seem a little… uhhh…" Pence crossed his arm in thought, trying to think of a nice way of saying it.

"They seem kinda like idiots," Hayner bluntly put, earning him a smack in the back of the head by Olette along with a displeased look, "Ow- hey! What was that for!?"

Once again having her mouth released from Riku's grasp, Kairi scoffed, "Pfft, yeah, Axel has a bit of the dumb bug in him, Saïx is smart though, if kinda weird. Axel was much more intimidating back then, but he's just a big goofball now," Kairi giggled.

"I will say," Riku added, "Saïx was probably one of the biggest pains to deal with. I'm glad he's on our side now, thou-"As he said this, a loud yell came from the other side of the wooden wall, the voice of Axel screaming loudly as a bead of sweat formed on Riku's forehead, "W-well, I think, that is."

"I'm still surprised though," Roxas joined, wincing as well at the scream, "I didn't think that Axel would have done that much just to get me back. I knew we were friends, but I didn't know I meant that much to him…" Roxas looked down a bit, feeling some residual guilt from when he had read the journal entries from Jiminy's database.

Xion smiled, and put a gentle hand on his shoulder, "Well, you would've done the same for him, right?"

"I guess, but I dunno… he ended up kidnapping somebody, I dunno if I would have done that," Roxas sighed, looking over towards Kairi, "Sorry, Kairi. For all the trouble he put you through." Roxas said, bowing his head slightly towards her.

"It's fine, besides!" Kairi said, getting up and sliding herself on the sand over behind Hayner, Pence, and Olette, "I got to meet these three 'because of it! And I only ever really got to see a couple of worlds when we first left the island," Kairi laid her chin down against Olette's shoulder, interrupting a quiet conversation she was having with Hayner and Pence trying to make sense of everyone was talking about, causing Olette to form a little awkward smile, before Kairi let out a long sigh, "I want to meet more aliens like these three, and I want to learn more about you guys. I mean really, Naminé, you were my nobody and I don't know anything about you!"

"Did she just call us aliens…?" Hayner muttered over towards Pence.

Naminé looked up at Kairi, having just been quietly observing the rest of the group for the most part, "Umm, I mean… There's not really anything too special about me, though." Naminé casually said, a somber little smile on her face as she looked down, not used to talking about herself, in any capacity.

"Pshh, we've all seen your drawings at least by now, Naminé. You've got a lot of personality to you!" Kairi giggled.

"Oh yeah, I remember that about you, Naminé," Ven added in, "Your drawings were really good. Maybe you could draw a picture for me sometime!" Ven's gave a toothy grin, not having seen any of her pictures lately, but remembering a bit from his apparent time within Roxas.

"I wouldn't mind getting one either," Riku said, smiling over towards Naminé, "I think it's time to replace that old picture of me with my eyes covered, don't you?" Riku gently smiled over towards her.

"O-Oh, sure I could do that…" Naminé said, her cheeks going a little red, she wasn't ready for any sort of praise and now she was getting requests, too. Even one from Riku… Seeing Naminé blushing from the corner of her eye, Xion smiled, and gently nudged her elbow into her friend's shoulder.

"And you!" Kairi stood up, coming off of Olette as she placed one hand on her hip, her other hand pointing towards Xion, "How come you look like me but a year ago and with black hair?" she questioned.

"U-uh, well," Xion had to think for a moment, suddenly being put on the spot, "I don't know, actually… umm, maybe we can ask Vexe- err, Even, whenever we end up going to Radiant Garden? Or do you know maybe, Naminé?" Xion turned to her head to her right. "I remember you said that I look like Kairi as Sora remembers her, but I never really got what that meant…" Xion said, with a slightly embarrassed look.

"Oh, I see. Sorry, I should have been clearer… umm, well, when Roxas was created, the strongest memory in Sora's heart at that moment, especially given the circumstances, was Kairi. So… as you began to absorb memories out of Roxas, the memory of Kairi was the first one to affect you," The witch of memories explained.

"Hmph! That's right I was his strongest memory," Kairi said, puffing out her chest in pride, "But, why the black hair? And speaking of…" Kairi then turned her head to Naminé, "Why do you have blonde hair!? My hair is red! Shouldn't yours be too?"

"O-one question at a time, please…" Naminé said, giving a slightly troubled look to her other, "As for Xion, well…" A small blush came to Naminé's cheeks, "M-maybe I shouldn't be saying this, but Sora, umm… has a thing for black hair. So, his preference ended up affecting Xion, a bit…" Naminé said, looking away embarrassedly.

Kairi stared at Naminé for moment, mouth agape, her eyes just widened in surprised as she took a moment to process this information… "That jerk!" she finally spoke out, turning around and kicking some sand harshly towards the water, causing it to splash and sprinkle against the water, "When we get him back, I'm going to send him right back to wherever he went!" Kairi crossed her arm, puffing her cheeks up, her shoulders hunched up, earning a laugh from most around the fire, excluding Aqua who was still lost in her own thoughts, and Mickey who was already forming some dark rings around his eyes, as he had to repeatedly leave the fire with Donald and Goofy to answer incoming calls from his kingdom.

'Black hair…?' Xion thought to herself, peeking over towards Roxas, wondering if maybe that preference had made its way over to him, as well… as she realized what she was thinking about, her cheeks went a little pink, and she quickly averted her eyes away from him.

"W-well, umm… as for me, I don't really know… I guess, since I was made at the same time as Roxas, my hair was kind of affected by Ventus, too." Naminé added.

"Haha jeez… sorry you guys, I didn't mean to make you two look like me. I uhh… well I was just asleep," Ven said, scratching at the back of his head, feeling a little guilty as he looked over at his twin and at Naminé.

"Well… just don't go stealing my style too much, alright? We've both got the black and white thing going on, but…" Roxas sighed, "I'm going to have to find some new clothes…"

"You've been asleep in those clothes for over a decade, Ven." Terra said, "I think it's time for a change, yourself."

"You think so? I kinda like my look, but... hmm, what do you think, Aqua?" Ven asked, turning to his left, hoping that maybe Aqua's perked up by now.

Aqua looked over towards Ven, her eyes slightly blank. It was almost as though she looked right through him. She had grown so used to seeing visages of her friend, the Realm of Darkness mocking her, filling her with hope, that despite all that had happened, despite how long it's been, Aqua didn't want to get her hopes up. She didn't seem to want to talk much to Ven outside of Master Yen Sid's tower, and when the Demon Tornado had struck her, she felt as though her fears were being realized. That it had all finally been given back to her, only to be taken away again. And though her body was now truly in the Realm of Light, her mind was still trapped in the Realm of Darkness, and though she knew, deep down, this was the real Ven in front of her, that she was no longer in the Realm of Darkness, she didn't feel as though she could take that risk again to believe it. She had been tricked too many times before, and she had already fallen to darkness once.

As Ven felt Aqua's gaze go right through him, he felt a shiver go up his spine at the empty look in her eyes. He had seen that look from her a few times since reuniting with her, but he never truly got used to how it's almost like she'll stare past him, as though she's staring at empty air for a moment before she'll finally acknowledge his existence, barely.

"Oh… Mm, I guess we all should get some new clothes, sometime…" Aqua looked down at her own garments, realizing that she as well had spent the past decade in them, "…Though, the Master gave us these, it'll be a little sad getting rid of them."

As Aqua looked down, Riku's nose twitched slightly. He didn't want to say anything, having seen Aqua's demeanor since she had been rescued from the Realm of Darkness, but she reeked of that familiar, potent stench reminiscent of the Realm of Darkness. However, aside from that, there was a different type of darkness reeking from Aqua, one that he presumed was specific to her. Though he had noticed it since she was rescued, he didn't know what to do for her himself; saving people from delving too deep into the darkness was Sora's forte, and Riku didn't know how to help Aqua himself.

"Yeah… but, I guess we can't go wearing these forever. We'll have to get some new clothes from Master Yen Sid, when we can" Terra said, looking down at his tight muscle shirt, the red suspenders forming an "X" over his chest.

"Oh!" Kairi suddenly perked up, her grumbling about Sora coming to a halt as she turned over towards Aqua, "I still have to make it up to you, for that spell you cast on me, Master Aqua." Kairi said, walking back over towards the Wayfinder trio, "Maybe we can go out and find a new style for you! The three good fairies would probably appreciate having some type of basis to go off of when they make you some new magic clothes." Kairi said, grinning at the prospect of going out with Aqua, and getting to know more about her.

"Oh, thank you, Kairi, but that's alright. I don't want to bother you with something like that, I can head out and do that by myself," Aqua said, giving Kairi a soft smile, gently rejecting her offer.

"Oh, and of course, you don't have anywhere to sleep tonight, do you? You can stay at my place!" Kairi said, completely ignoring Aqua's rejection.

"Umm, Kairi, I-"Aqua began, before being cut off by Riku with a laugh.

"I'd just go with her, Aqua. Once Kairi wants to hang out, there's no getting out of it" Riku said, breathing out a slightly tired laugh.

"Hehe, see~? Riku gets it. So, we're going shopping tomorrow, got it?" Kairi said, smiling at Aqua. "Of course, buying you some clothes is hardly any payback for saving me from my world being overtaken by a darkness-seeking tyrant, but that'll be where I start!"

Aqua stared up at Kairi with a surprised look for a moment, before lowering her head for a moment and letting out a dry laugh, before a soft sigh, "Alright then, I suppose. I'll trouble you a little bit, then. But really, Kairi. You don't owe me anything." Aqua said, looking up at her. Despite on part of her heart convincing her that this was all a long, elaborate illusion from the Realm of Darkness, the light that she could sense from Kairi, given that she was a princess of heart, is something she knew that she knew the darkness couldn't replicate. Even now, Kairi was giving Aqua a little bit of hope as she continued to truly leave the Realm of Darkness.

"Good, but I still owe you!" Kairi smiled, "Oh, and we have to find something for you too, Naminé. You've been wearing that dress since the Organization's home world," Kairi said, looking up and down Naminé's body, mainly at the plain white dress that she had been wearing since they had met, as she began to wonder what kind of outfit would work on her.

Naminé, her cheeks going red, quickly rested her hands on her lap, bringing her legs together with a bit of discomfort, hiding the side effect of having been given a male replica's body from Kairi. "O-okay, we can go shopping… b-but can you please stop staring at me like that?"

"Oh fine," Kairi giggled, before putting her hands on her hips, "And naturally you're both coming too, Xion, Olette" Kairi casually added.

"Sure, I wouldn't mind seeing another world's fashion" Olette said, smiling as she put her fingers together, too used to Hayner and Pence's random antics to really be caught off guard by Kairi.

"Huh? Oh, uh.. sure, I guess. I don't know much about clothes, though. This was just on sale…" Xion said, looking down at her clothes.

"Hmm, it's a good find but… Ugh I wish I could sew! Those arm frills are just too much, I'm sure we can stop by a Hot Topic or something for you, since black's a good color on you." Kairi said, giving her a thumbs up and a wink.

"What's a Hot Topic…?" Xion turned her head to her right, asking Naminé who gave a shrug.

"Alright! Shopping trip tomorrow!" Kairi said, doing a little hop out of excitement.

As Kairi jumped behind him, Terra turned over towards Riku, the boy he bequeathed years ago, "Hey, Riku. Think that you could show Ven and I somewhere to find some clothes too?" he asked, "I think it's time we changed it up, too."

"Yeah, of course. I only really know a couple of places, but I'm sure we can find something for you two," Riku said, before turning over towards Roxas, "You want to come too?"

Roxas looked over towards his former rival, and shrugged his shoulders, "Yeah, alright. Have to make sure Ven doesn't end up copying me" Roxas said, looking over towards his physical twin.

Seeing Roxas' eyes turn towards him, Ven let out a groan as he slouched down a bit, "Yeah, yeah. I get it." Ven said, before turning his gaze over towards the massive, shambling wooden wall, "By the way, shouldn't we go check on those two…? They've been really quiet over there for a while."

As though it were coordinated, the creaking door of the wooden wall swung open, and from it first came Axel, his arms crossed as he walked forward, his face down with a look of thought on it, though his body uninjured, despite the earlier scream. Behind him followed by Saïx, who's arms were crossed as well, looking towards the back of Axel's head with his usual stern expression. Slowly, their feet crunched against the grains of sand under their soles as they made their way back towards their spots on the logs around the fire.

As they sat, eyes from around the fire immediately went towards them, Saïx with his stern, if not slightly dead expression, and Axel grumbling with his arms now crossed.

"Welcome back, you two. Glad to see you aren't dead, Axel!" Kairi smiled, walking back to her spot between Riku and Saïx around the fire.

"Yeah, blue here was kind enough to give me a potion for my troubles" Axel spat out, pouting towards the fire, "I swear, can't get a break around here! Anybody else want to take a shot at me while I'm down!?" Axel threw his arms up with a groan.

Roxas and Xion looked over at Saïx with some apprehension, wondering if maybe he hadn't changed too much from the Organization days. He had performed a few random acts of kindness throughout his time in their group, however, that strict, silent nature of his hadn't changed much from the time he was their superior.

"Are you okay, Axel?" Xion leaned forward, looking over towards the redhead, looking over his body for any damage; only seeing the few grains of sand still stuck to his coat, though.

"Yeah, I'm fine don't worry. So, what did we miss? Did you all exchange information without us around?" Axel asked, looking around; but mainly at Jiminy.

Jiminy, who had since moved onto the log besides where Goofy was sitting as he had moved away to aid the King with his various phone calls, looked up from his phone, where he had been editing some of his entries he had been making while listening quietly to the other speaking.

"Haha, don't worry, Lea. It's all in the journal now, you can read up on it whenever you'd like," Jiminy said, his tiny form standing up on the log.

"Ugh, more reading!?" Axel said, hunching forward with a look of exasperation, "Today's just not my day…"

"Hehe don't worry Axel. You didn't miss much," Naminé said, laughing a little at the tired nature of Axel, "It was really just about our hair colors, and why Roxas looks like Ven, it wasn't much."

"What!? I missed why Roxas looks like Ven!?" Axel asked, mouth agape as he looked at his blonde friend, "Damn it, okay phone, give me answers…!" Axel said, quickly pulling his phone, slightly charred and melted from earlier though still functioning, out from his coat pocket, and immediately tapped the "Jiminy's Journal" app.

"So, do we have a plan for our next course of action, yet?" Saïx spoke up, "I suppose locating Sora will be one of our top priorities."

"Nope! Well, yep! But tomorrow we're going shopping!" Kairi said, nonchalantly, "Not like we can keep exploring that much in that tiny ship. That ride here was crammed, luckily you two had those space… thingies, Ven, Terra," Kairi said, looking over towards them.

"Yeah, Can't say I remember there being any type of gummi ship when we were training. I thought it was just a keyblade thing," Ven said, summoning the Wayward Wind to his hand in his backhand grip as always, giving it a twirl and just admiring it for a moment, before dismissing it..

"Hey, Aqua," Terra leaned forward and looked over to his blue haired friend, who turned her face towards him after a moment, "How come you didn't use your glider on the way here also?" he asked.

Aqua looked at Terra for a moment, her eyes widened a bit, knowing that this would come up eventually. She let out a sigh and raised up her hand, looking down at her palm, "Stormfall… isn't answering my call anymore. And neither is my armor, when I try and summon it. When I first went into the Realm of Darkness, I cast them off, and I don't know where they ended up, but… without Master's keyblade, all I have right now is my magic." Aqua confessed, squeezing her hand shut tightly.

"You lost your keyblade…!?" Ven looked on with an expression of disbelief, "But you're a master! How is that even possible…" Ven looked down, half thinking, have shocked that Aqua, of all people, had lost hers.

"R-Really?" Terra's eyes widened with the same amount of disbelief, his hands resting on his knees as his form tilted backwards, "Uhh… huh" Terra just nodded, not really sure what to say in response to that.

"You lost it in Radiant Garden, right Aqua?" Riku joined in, "We're going to end up heading that way one way or another. We'll search there then. Until then, if anything happens we'll keep you safe."

"Right," Kairi nodded in agreement, "You already kept me safe before. Now it's my turn"

"Mm," Terra shook his head out of his stupor, before grunting in agreement, "You took that fall into the Realm of Darkness for me. I'm really indebted to you, Aqua."

"Yeah! And you put me somewhere safe when I was asleep, we'll get your keyblade!" Ven said, a wide grin on his face.

Around the fire, most of the group nodded in agreement, save for the Twilight town crew, who didn't even know magic was a thing until they had met Sora. They just sat back, trying to stay out of the conversation, looking around a little awkwardly.

Aqua looked around at the group looking at her, and formed a small smile, "I appreciate it, all of you. I'll try not to burden you all for too long."

"Heh, with the manpower we've got? You're not a burden at all," Axel said, having since come back from browsing his phone, now satisfied with the information received.

"Besides, it doesn't look like the worlds are in danger at the moment. So hopefully there shouldn't be too many heartless roaming around," Riku added.

"Hopefully the other Organization members aren't going to cause any more trouble…" Naminé brought up, shivering at the thought of two certain individuals.

"No, I imagine not. Without the organization intact, I feel as though none of the remaining former members have much interest in world domination, or anything of the sort," Saïx said, partially wondering where Xigbar, Luxord, Demyx, Marluxia, and Larxene had ended up, not entirely sure of their future plans.

"Well, if they do cause any trouble, we just gotta smack some sense into them, right?" Kairi said, summoning Destiny's Embrace to her hand, "Now that I can, at least. I think…" She sighed, disgruntled that she was taken out so early on by Xemnas, before dismissing her keyblade.

"Well, you were holding your own against me, if that counts for anything" Xion chimed in, giving an awkward smile to Kairi.

"Oh! That's right, I want a rematch sometime, now that Berserk-y over here isn't in our way!" Kairi said, referring to Saïx.

"Pfft, Berserk-y. Fitting, don'tcha think?" Axel said, resting his elbow on Isa's shoulder as he chuckled, earning a groan from Isa.

"Um, well I mean if you want to we can?" Xion said, not expecting an invitation for a duel, "But not tonight? It's getting late, and I just don't want to right now," She said, as she let out a small yawn.

"Yeah, alright. But I'm gonna kick your butt tomorrow!" Kairi said, raising a fist in determination.

"We'll see about that," Xion said with a small smile towards Kairi.

"Now, as much as I love hearing two of my best friends want to beat each other up," Axel interjected, "What was this you were saying earlier about clothes shopping, Kai?"

"Oh yeah!" Kairi's eyes lit up, "You two should go with Riku! No offense, Isa. But Camo isn't a good look on you, at all," Kairi said bluntly, putting her hand on her chin, mentally critiquing Isa's attire.

Saïx turned and looked towards Kairi, before looking towards his coat, the stripes of camouflage prominently going down his sides, "I see. It's been some time since I've worn something other than the organization coat, it seems that style is still outside of my realm of understanding." Saïx said in his monotone voice.

"Yeah, I need something new since I burnt off my old clothes yesterday," Axel said, pulling on a bit of his old organization coat, "Count us in!" Axel smirked.

Roxas looked over towards Saïx, his eyes narrowing a bit. One of the last things he'd ever imagine doing with his superior was going clothes shopping with him, or spend any time with him at all, for that matter. And now here he was in this situation.

"Sounds like fun, eh Roxy?" Axel nudged his elbow against Roxas' arm, smirking and pulling Roxas out of his stupor.

"Eh? Yeah I guess so… Wait, Roxy!?" Roxas recoiled from Axel, "What kind of nickname is that…!?" he asked, as from besides him he heard a small giggle.

"Haha, it sounds kinda cute, doesn't it? Roxy~" Naminé said, teasing Roxas a little, as Xion giggled a little besides her at Roxas' new name.

"H-hey…! Don't start using it!" Roxas said, his cheeks turning a little pink, "Besides, isn't Roxy a girl's name?"

"Alright! So, it's settled," Kairi interjected, "Shopping and Xion butt-whooping tomorrow!" Kairi said, putting her hands together confidently.

"Oh, we'll see who "whoops" who," Xion said, smiling up at Kairi with a bit of fire in her eyes.

. . .

After some time of everyone settling in, with some opting to make use of the fire to cook some sweet, crispy marshmallow-y goodness, s'mores, and some hot dogs, eventually the moon gave rise to the middle of the sky, and Mickey let out an audible sigh.

"Alright," he said, running his gloved hand over his face, before pinching the bridge of his nose, "That's a few issues put on hold for the moment."

"Gawrsh, good thing you have Queen Minnie. It would've been much worse without her around!" Goofy chuckled.

"Mm, I'm going to have to find a way to thank her… or apologize, profusely," Mickey chuckled with a tired voice, sitting slouched over in seat.

"Aww, I'm going to have to do the same for Daisy…" Donald squeaked out, as he leaned down.

"Are you three going to be alright?" Riku asked from across the fire.

Mickey looked up, looking over towards his silver-haired friend with a tired smile, "Yeah, we'll be fine. But unfortunately, we can't spend much more time here. We're going to have to head back to the castle tonight…" he said, before turning his head to the side, looking away from Riku, staying silent for a moment before breathing out, "I'm sorry, everyone. But I don't think We'll be able to help you all in your search for Sora. The worlds aren't in danger anymore, and we can't put off our responsibilities any longer," Mickey said, looking down guiltily towards the sand.

Donald and Goofy looked down as well, looking in shame towards the sand; they'd been travelling with Sora over a year now, of course they want to help in finding him, but their allegiance to their king had to take precedence.

The group around the fire looked over towards the mouse king and his companions, with looks of a disheartened understanding. Roxas, who's eyes narrowed slightly at the king, turned his gaze over towards Riku. He knew that Riku, friend of Mickey and best friend of Sora, would be the best one to speak on behalf of everyone in response to this news.

Riku sat for a moment, his eyes staring towards Mickey for a moment, a thoughtful look on his face as he had originally thought Mickey would have joined them on this adventure, although he had also forgotten that Mickey was a king, a topic that had seldom come up when he aided them against Master Xehanort.

As he looked towards Mickey, having seen the stress he's been in in the background of the fire, he sighed out quietly, before looking up towards Mickey with an understanding look, "It's alright, Mickey," Riku said, "Sora's our issue. He's saved most of us all, in one way or another," Riku said, looking across the fire at the various hearts that Sora has touched throughout the year.

Terra smiled at the silver-haired master, "Yeah, Master Riku is right. Without Sora, I'd still be possessed, and Ven would still be asleep, Aqua would still be trapped," He said, looking over at his two friends, "We can't just let that go unrepaid."

"And without Sora, I would have been trapped in his heart forever," Roxas joined, looking towards everyone, "And well, I guess I wouldn't even exist if it weren't for him."

Xion put her hands on the sides of her seat, resting her forearms against her hips, "Mm, and without him, I might have actually ended up killing Axel…" her grip tightened slightly into a fist, looking over with a bit of guilt towards Axel.

"And without him, I would've been dead!" Axel proclaimed, before leaning back, "Kai, you and I really have to get stronger. I was lookin' forward to showing Xemnas what for…" Axel groaned, before falling back on the log, his back hitting the sand behind him as he looked up towards the stars, his arms spread out.

"Heck yeah we do, if we ever see a recompleted Xemnas somehow, I'm gonna make kicking his butt a top priority!" Kairi said, raising up her fists and throwing a few punches at the air in front of her.

"A recompleted Xemnas?" Xion asked, "Can that even happen…? I mean, Terra is here, right?"

Terra looked over towards Kairi with a bit of concern, wondering what she was even suggesting, "I'm right here, Princess. Why would… just, what?" Terra asked, completely confused.

"Well I'm just saying!" Kairi pouted, "I mean, Namine is her own person, and came as a result of Sora releasing his, and my heart. My body never became a nobody, yet she was created with Roxas. So, if Xemnas was created from both Xehanort and you, Terra, couldn't Xemnas be like a kind of body child of you two?"

"Don't… don't say body-child, Kai. That just sounds weird," Riku said, trying to internalize Kairi's logic and wondering if it even made any sense.

"W-wait are you trying to say I'm like a… 'body-child,' of you and Sora….?" Namine asked, her cheeks flushed as she recoiled a little looking over at Kairi.

Roxas recoiled just as much, looking over at Ven, "And me a 'body-child' of Sora and Ven…?"

"W-what!?" Ven looked over towards Roxas with a look of shock on his face, "I-I'm not ready to be a father…!"

"No way!" Roxas said, "I'll be your twin, but no way am I being your son!"

Ven looked away from Roxas, his cheeks red as he tried to figure out exactly what to say to Roxas, "U-ugh… this is so wrong…"

"Well I'm right, aren't I!?" she exclaimed.

Terra put his hand over his face, pinching the bridge of his nose as he let out a breath, "Maybe, maybe not. That theory sounds, half-right, maybe? I don't know. Ven, Roxas, Namine, Let's just drop it and hope he doesn't come back, at all," He sighed.

"Jeez, it's like there'd never be getting rid of Xehanort if that were the case," Mickey said, looking over at Kairi, "But, what would that make Ansem then…?"

"I dunno," Kairi responded, shrugging her shoulders, "Jeez these are just sleepy thoughts, maybe I shouldn't have said anything." She pouted.

"No, I think that it's good you brought this up, Princess," Mickey said, "I wonder if Ansem the Wise would have any opinion on the matter…" he sighed, before looking back up at the group, "I'll try to contact him on the way back home, but thank you, everyone. I'm sorry that we can't help out with finding Sora but thank you for not being too upset with us for it."

"Of course, if there's a new threat that stops ya'll from getting him, call on us to back you up, hyuck!" Goofy grinned, his long snout, "I am captain of the guard, after all."

"And I'm the royal magician!" Donald puffed his feathered chest upwards, an esteemed look on his duck-billed face, "I've got plenty of magic to spare, Squahaha!" Donald's squeaking voice laughed out.

"Right, we'll do anything we can to help…" Mickey said "…Though, it may be more long-distance support," he gave an awkward smile.

"We appreciate anything you can give, Mickey. I'm sure we all figure that being a king isn't the easiest job," Riku laughed a little, a few chuckles adorning the group as well, "But, I'm guessing you're going to be taking the Highwind back, then," Riku noted.

"Mm, that's right. Oh, but don't worry!" Mickey said, a look of surprise on his face that he didn't mention this, "I told you before, Riku, that Chip and Dale were working on new ship designs, right? Well, we'll be taking the Highwind back with us. But we'll send the new models that Chip, and Dale designed back here," Mickey explained.

"Oh, really?" Riku's eyes widened a bit, taken aback a bit only thinking that the new designs were only just made, but apparently the ships have been constructed, as well, "That's really good to hear, we're going to need a way to get around," he said, "Are they going to be piloted by somebody on their way here, or…?"

"Not at all," Mickey said, "Well, sort of, I should say. Chip and Dale say it'll have an autopilot, but that's only for the worlds that's coordinates have been put into their systems. So, they should be able to find their way here… in the worst case, they should be able to pilot them remotely," Mickey explained further, "They should be fine in getting here."

"When do you think they'll get here?" Kairi asked, looking forward in a little anticipation, "Oh! And are the seats going to be those hard, gummi things still…?"

"Hmm, I didn't ask about the seats. But they said that they should be here within the day or two … since there won't be anyone on them, the energy expended normally for life support can be put towards the engines, and make it come by faster. Oh! But they did tell me," Mickey remembered, "They might be a little bit slower than other gummi-ships. A sort of sacrifice in order to make room for the increased livability. But Chip and Dale will give you a call when the ships get here."

"Got it," Riku nodded, "Thanks, Mickey. I don't know how we'd be able to even start looking for Sora without you."

"Aww, don't worry. Besides, you guy's all saved the world from being overwritten, a few gummi-ships is the least that I can do. Besides, it's not like a lot of people have been using them, aha!" Mickey chuckled, before slowly standing up, brushing off some sand from his shorts that had somehow managed to stick onto him, "But, I think it's about time we got going," he said, before turning his eyes over towards the three formerly-lost keyblade wielders, "Aqua, Terra, Ventus, I'm glad we have you three back."

Aqua, having been watching the Mouse-king as he spoke, formed a small smile as he spoke to them, "It's good to be back. I hope we can stop by some time, I wouldn't mind another Dream Festival," she said, glimpses of the fruitball tournament flashing through her mind.

"Oh yeah, we still have those passports!" Ven said, excitedly pulling out the card from one of his pockets, "It's probably loads more fun there, now that Pete's not bothering everyone."

"Yeah… gotta wonder whatever happened with Maleficent and Pete, last we saw them was in Herc's world," Jiminy said, rubbing his chin in thought, "Ah, well, by the way everyone, I updated the journal app, so now you all can make your own entries, too! Hehe be sure to take a lot of pictures, I'm not going to be able to travel along with you all, but I'd like to see the worlds if I still can." Jiminy said, chuckling a little.

"Aw, yeah…" Donald looked down, a somber tone to his voice.

"Gawrsh, I didn't actually think of that. Guess we're not going to be explorin' for a while then" Goofy looked down with a similar expression.

"Aww, I'm sorry fellas, I guess once you get the adventuring mood in you, it's hard to take it back out. To be honest, I'd love to keep exploring worlds too…" Mickey sighed, "But we got a duty, everybody's counting on us!" he said, his chest puffing up in a bit of pride, a confident look on his face, before he looked towards everyone, "But, if you all wouldn't mind, do ya think you could take a few pictures of the worlds you run across?"

"Are you kidding!? I was going to be taking pictures anyway!" Kairi said, "I still haven't had my cross-world adventure yet! No way I'm going to let this cool phone's storage capacity go to waste!" Kairi's eyes gleamed, as she pulled out her state-of-the-art interplanetary phone, "Oh, why don't we take a picture before you guys head out?"

"That sounds great," Mickey said, his tired eyes lighting up slightly.

Saix looked up as the idea of a photo came up, "Then, allow me to take the photo," he offered, "I am the newest one to this group, I should be the one left out of this," He made his point, looking off towards the group, as he began to pull out his phone, a gift he had not expected, though still graciously received from King Mickey earlier.

Roxas and Xion looked up at Saix, not about to stop him from sitting this one out, but Axel quickly stood up, laying his hand against Isa's shoulder, "Hey, come on, you think I'm gonna let you sit this out? You get in there, you're one of us now, right guys?" Axel said, tilting his head towards Roxas, and Xion.

"Uhh…" Roxas stumbled a bit, unsure of how to respond, while Xion turned her head away a little.

Saix, seeing this, sighed quietly, before looking towards Lea, his expression unchanged, "It's alright, Lea."

Axel looked at his friends with a bit of frustration, before groaning out, turning back towards Isa "Oh, fine! But I'm sitting out with you. Besides," Axel smirked, tugging on a little bit of his cloak, "Can't be taking a picture looking like this, can I?"

"Hm? No, you can," Kairi chimed in.

"Quiet, Princess! All of you, go pose, me and Isa are sitting this one out, got it memorized?" Axel aggressively tapped at his temple, before crossing his arms sternly.

Saix looked besides himself at the frustrated, Axel, a small, almost unnoticeable, smile forming on his lips, before he let out a small breath, "Very well. Then everyone, please, get together."

Over the next few moments, everybody got up from their seats, scrambling over towards the eastern side of the fire, where they began to huddle together, the long, flat wooden bridge in the background. With the fire at their backs, Axel and Saix stood beside each other, Saix's hands up as he held his phone vertically.

"Alright everyone, say cheese!" Axel said, his arms crossed, and a wide smile adorned on his face.

_Click, click_

Taking two pictures to be safe, within the first image was Donald and Mickey, being carried on the left and right of Goofy's shoulders respectively to accommodate for their height with the large group, with Kairi on the left to support Donald, Riku on the right to support Mickey, and Jiminy standing on top of Goofy's head. Besides Kairi was Olette, leaning in against Kairi's shoulder, putting up a peace sign with her fingers with Kairi. In front of them was Hayner and Pence on their knees, Hayner flexing his arms, and Pence with his thumbs up. Besides Riku was Roxas, His hands on his hips, as he tried to look confidently at the camera, ignoring who was behind it. In front of Riku and Roxas respectively were Namine and Xion, on their knees to stay within frame. Xion had a calm look, trying to look straight at the camera, similar to Roxas, while Namine had pink adorning her cheeks, an awkward look on her face as she tried to keep both hands pressed over the bottom of her dress to hide her secret. In the middle of it all, on one knee in front of Goofy, was Aqua with a slightly serious expression with a mild smile on her face, with Terra on her left, one knee, facing the center similarly to Aqua, his face collected, a calm smile on his face, as on Aqua's right Ven's teeth were bared with a wide, toothy grin, as he stared towards the camera, his hand a little blurred as he waved at the camera.

The second picture, however, was mostly the same. However, Donald and Goofy's eyes were wide, as he was leaned a bit farther in this picture than the last one, as Kairi's mouth was slightly agape and Mickey's face was turning towards Donald.

Looking up from his phone, Saix heard the discomforted groans of Ven, Aqua, Hayner, and Donald, who were laying in a little dog pile on the sand.

"Pffft- hahaha!" Axel began laughing besides him, which soon began to spread over to the group, seeing that everyone was alright, if just covered in sand.

"Pfft…" Aqua snorted a little into the sand, feeling Donald's ruffled feathers against her back, while Ven was moving his face out the sand, spitting it out the grains of it as he start groaned a little, sticking out his tongue as he tried to spit out the rest stuck to it.

"Goofy… You big palooka…!" Donald groaned out sleepily, as he began to push himself up off of Aqua and Ven's back.

. . .

"Alright, I think it's about time we start heading back, before we get too tired to drive the Highwind," Mickey said, as behind him Goofy, his fur slightly frazzled, put patting out his hat that was smoking a little bit.

"Gawrsh, Donald. You didn't have to zap me," Goofy said, as he blew out a little bit of smoke from his charred hat.

"Grrr, it was to wake you up!" Donald had his hands on his hips, tapping is foot against the sand.

"Gosh Donald, but you didn't need to zap me, too…!" Jiminy said, fixing his hat, his body covered with a layer of soot.

"Aww, sorry, Jiminy. You were just… in the crossfire?" Donald put his hands up in a shrug, trying to justify himself before looking down, just feeling guilty.

"Alright," Riku said, standing in front of Mickey before kneeling down in front of him, "Well, don't be afraid to call if you need anything from us."

"Sure, and I'll be sure to let you know if I pick up any leads on Sora," Mickey smiled, before his face slowly became a little more somber, "You gonna be okay on your own, Riku?"

"Hm? Oh…" Riku looked down at the mouse, a thoughtful look on his face for a moment, before he looked back up at him with a smile, "Yeah, besides…" He said, as he turned his head towards the group that was currently watching, "I'm not on my own, anymore." Riku said, a confident look on his face as he turned his gaze back towards his kingly friend.

Mickey returned Riku's smile, "Right. Well then…" Mickey raised his hand up towards Riku, a somewhat proud expression on his face, "I'll see you again sometime, Riku."

Riku reached forward, grabbing onto Mickey's hand firmly, "Yeah, see you again, Mickey," he said, a somewhat lonely feeling overcoming him. But he brushed the feeling away as Mickey gave him a small nod, and the two parted their hands.

"Donald, Goofy, Jiminy, let's get going," Mickey said, as turned away from Riku, pulling out a small black rectangle from his pocket, pressing a red button situated in the middle of it.

As soon as he pressed it, a glowing, pale green light formed on the ground, with two orbs of a similar color swirling around the green light on the sand.

As the four of them made their way into the light, everybody in the group waved off the Disney town royalty, calling out goodbyes, to which they returned the wave and words of departure before their forms seemingly stretched out for only a millisecond, and disappeared, taking the green light with them.

The group stayed silent for a moment as they saw a flash of light up in the sky, likely the Highwind taking off, before Ven finally spoke up.

"So, uhh… where are we going to stay until the Gummi ships get here…?" he asked.

Riku turned back towards the group, his eyes turning towards Ventus, "You guys can stay at my place, or… I guess some of you can, I might not have enough room to comfortably accommodate you all," Riku said, moving his hand up onto his neck, rubbing it back and forth a little.

"It's all good! Riku, you take the guys to your place, and us girls can have a sleepover at my house!" Kairi said, smiling as she turned over towards Aqua, "I want to hear more about me in Radiant Garden, I don't really remember anything from then, after all."

Aqua gave a kindhearted look towards Kairi, giving her a small nod, "We didn't really spend much time together then, but sure I can tell you about it."

"Alright! So now that residence is settled, how do we get to the main island? I'm guessing you guys don't all live here," Axel chimed in.

"Hah yeah, no," Riku laughed, as he began to walk over towards the small dock, "We have a few small boats here, we can get back with… them…" Riku said, as he looked down at the tiny boats, realizing that they, at most could hold maybe two people at once, maximum. With a group of thirteen… "This might take couple of trips," Riku chuckled tiredly.

* * *

Alrighty, so a few things I just want to mention regarding this chapter:

-Aqua isn't going to bleh forever.

-ATV isn't going to be bleh forever; I honestly have the most plans for them out of everyone.

-Writing 16, maybe 17 (I'm bad at counting) people in a single area for the entire thing was a terrible decision for a new writer.

-Ima talk more about Axel and Saix next chapter, I was going to do a little cut to what went on beyond the wall, but I just couldn't, not in this chapter.

-Keeping track of everyone is hard lol, so some character reactions or attitudes might be different in some placed. Lemme know if you spot any, cause I tried to fix them where I saw them, but yeah lol.

-I ended up making Kairi a bit bubblier, but idk how that turned out; let me know if that kinda ruined the character, cause in these first few chapters it's going to be a lot of figuring things out and trying things out on my end lol.

Alright, now that that's out of the way, If any of ya'll have any criticisms, any suggestions, want to scream at me, anything, go for it. Feedback is always appreciated, especially since I have no idea what I'm doing lol :D

But I'm looking forward to next chapter; keep in mind, I've written so little in the past, so these first few chapters are going to be a kind of self-made tutorial for me, so I have a few things I'm gonna experiment with and just try out.

Sorry if I made ya'll cringe super hard with some of the stuff in this chapter. xD

But I got a buncha stuff planned, and a buncha stuff I want to explore more. So, I'll be around, hopefully with less of a delay this time lol.

Oh, and a couple of other general things I wanted to mention:

-Any romance within or involving Aqua, Terra, or Ventus crew might be a while in the making. They all will most likely, since idk how to write females or romances, but those three will take a little longer. (I will say this though; in all likelihood this will not be an Aqua x Ven fic. It more likely will lean Aqua x Terra, but it also may be the case that they get with OC's or something. I have their adventures planned out but not their romances)

-There in all likelihood won't be a harem, lol.

Okay, now that that's all been said, I hope ya'll enjoyed this chapter to some degree, I'm just proud that I was finally about to push myself through and do it, lol.

Later!


End file.
